This study analyzes the educational achievement gap between low and high socioeconomic students from the perspective of sixty-two prospective teachers in an undergraduate educational foundations course at a public majority minority urban university in the northeastern United States. The majority of these college students come from, and plan to teach in, lower socioeconomic areas; consequently their insights are uniquely relevant. These prospective teachers cite the following as key causes of the achievement gap: lack of parental involvement, linguistic conflicts between home and school, a lack of bicultural teachers, and the perception of anti-intellectual k-12 school climates. Implications of how these views may affect these prospective teachers when they enter the teaching profession are addressed.